In part two of SIBSAP Day, Ridley Scott and Prometheus stars Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace attended CineEurope tonight to sell European exhibitors on the prospects of the 3D sci-fi project. Production is underway in London, but they obviously didn’t bring any footage or images or anything that would reveal what Prometheus is literally about. But the trio did speak to the themes of the movie. Quotes after the jump:

The first hint of a prequel centered on the question “Who the hell was that space jockey?” Scott conceded that the desire to explore that mystery inspired him to revisit the Alien universe. He attributed further inspiration to sci-fi author Erich von Däniken, a proponent of the “ancient astronaut” theory that credits civilation on earth to extraterrestrials:

“The (space) journey, metaphorically, is about a challenge to the gods… NASA and the Vatican agree that is almost mathematically impossible that we can be where we are today without there being a little help along the way. That’s what we’re looking at (in the film), at some of Erich von Däniken’s ideas of how did we humans come about.”

That is an intriguing idea. In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan that stole fire from the gods and gave it to the mortals. Scott confirmed at CineEurope the title refers to a space ship sent from Earth by a powerful corporation, possibly for the purpose of terraforming.

“Fassbender did hint his character, David, might be a version of the infamous corporate-designed android that plays a pivotal role in all Alien films.”

I welcome Alien fans more knowledgable than myself to speculate in the comments.

Rapace restricted herself to talk about the production: she described her work as “hard and sweaty” and claimed the 73-year-old Scott “still has more energy than all of us combined.”

I really like that there’s this big, mysterious sci-fi project looming. I don’t mind knowing very little about it. But I hope we can push the pause button on quasi-coverage after SIBSAP Day (just 20 minutes left here on the east coast).